Dante’s Immortality – Chapter 69

As Olivia led him down the rougher streets of Desas, he pondered over his ‘situation’, and concluded that it was problematic.

After reading Victoria’s letter, he had decided to keep as much distance between himself and Olivia as possible. He was only a few hundred world essence away from either specializing his Chronomancer or Revenant Classification, and there was no way he would risk that by being too close Olivia. Unfortunately, keeping his distance no longer seemed to be an option.

It wasn’t just that he was worried about how distancing himself might affect Olivia’s precarious mental stability, even if that did come into play. No, it was Melisandre.

He had seen few mothers that were as protective as Melisandre, and her reaction to what happened changed things drastically. It seemed that if he bothered Olivia in any way, she would bring her wrath down upon him.

It was likely the shared experience. Given their past, he couldn’t fault Melisandre’s behavior, he just needed to find a way to navigate around the two of them safely.

They came upon the gate to the merchant’s district of Desas and were waved in without being checked, just like the day before. They continued on through the merchant’s district, only stopping periodically so Olivia could check the new wares that were being presented at the front of the various stores.

After replaying the conversation he had with Melisandre in his head, one part stuck out to him. Melisandre had said, ‘It’s no wonder she left you with me.’ In other words, Victoria hadn’t just left him with Melisandre so she could run errands. Clearly there was something that he was expected to learn, he just needed to find out what that was.

So far, he had already learned how to block surprise mental attacks, but he didn’t think that is what he was supposed to be learning. Victoria had made it seem like she could teach him that.

In fact, there was no reason not to ask. It wasn’t as though it was some hidden secret.

Dante glanced down to Olivia, who was still latched onto his arm. Her complexion was already far better than it was only minutes ago, and her hair somehow seemed to be less messy. She seemed to have made a full recovery. “Do you know why Victoria left me with Melisandre?”

For the first time in their walk, Olivia allowed him to lead as she thought it over. “Maybe…”

“Maybe?”

Olivia nodded. “Maybe.”

Dante cleared his throat. “Care to explain?”

Olivia visibly hesitated. “I think I know the reason, but I’m not sure if I’m allowed to tell you. Everything that master tells me is supposed to be kept secret unless she says otherwise.”

It seemed as though Melisandre had her own secrets that only Olivia was privy to. It just meant he would need to ask Melisandre when he got the chance. Dante gave a nod in reply. “Fair enough.”

Seeing his response, Olivia’s face lit up with a smile and she began to tug on his arm. “Let’s go! We are almost there.”

Dante allowed himself to be pulled by Olivia. She hadn’t been seductive since her breakdown, and he was hoping that it would be a permanent change, toward him at least. Truthfully, he didn’t mind Olivia. True, he found her behavior to be a bit much. But that was before learning about her Classification.

“Why are we going in here?” It definitely wasn’t a blacksmith’s shop, that was for certain.

Olivia rolled her eyes. “You need to be properly armed for the feast, obviously.”

He glanced back at the shop. He couldn’t see much through the windows, but the weapons he could see looked more like decorations than any type of functional weapon. “Why would I need to be properly armed for a celebratory feast?”

“You can’t go to a warlord’s feast unarmed, no one would respect you. Besides, what if you catch the eye of a beautiful woman and you are challenged for her?”

“Come again?”

Olivia looked as though she were explaining the obvious to a moron. “You don’t look bad, so I’m sure you will attract some attention.”

Dante cleared his throat. “I was asking about challenge part.”

“Oh, that. It’s just standard competition. A bunch of men trying to show women that they are the ones worth sleeping with.”

He could swear that there was a tinge of disgust in Olivia’s hollow tone, but that could have just been his imagination.

Giving a shrug of resignation, Dante walked up to the store’s door and held it open for Olivia. There was no need to make things more difficult than they needed to be. He was awarded with a smile, and the two of them walked in.

They were greeted by a finely dressed, small-framed man with a narrow face who must have been in his early twenties, and an otherwise empty store. The lack of other customers was clearly a bad sign, and he was pretty sure that the narrow-faced man wasn’t a blacksmith.

The narrow-faced man walked up to the two of them with a humble, yet confident, smile. “Greetings miss.” He gave a low bow for Olivia, then turned towards Dante and nodded. “Sir. My name is Ezra, please let me know if I may be of service.”

Olivia spun toward Dante. “What type of weapon do you want? They have a variety of daggers, but you also used a sword when you fought Carter, so it’s your choice.”

Dante took a moment to look around the store. It was divided weapon by type, with swords seeming to take up a majority of the shop. He glanced longingly at the spears, after seeing what the second level of the spectral attunement could do, he was eager to get his hands on one. “I usually use a sword and dagger, but maybe we can just look around?”

Olivia seemed to think it over. “I suppose… But we are in a bit of a rush today. Let’s look for your weapons first, and browse after if we have the time.”

That seemed almost unreasonably reasonable. The two of them made their way toward the sword section, and he was almost immediately overwhelmed.

There had to be over fifty swords on display, and none of them were anything alike. Even the handles were different, which seemed almost overwhelmingly stupid. He immediately dismissed any sword that had a curved handle from his mind.

The hilts were all ornate, either created from intricate patterns or shaped into various creatures, and almost all of them were adorned with jewels. In his mind, the hilt’s appearance didn’t come into play, and they all seemed to have about the same basic shape and functionality.

That left him with a large problem when looking at the rest. “Um, what type of metal is the best?” They came in a variety of colors, and some of them just looked bizarre.

He said the words to Olivia, but Ezra was quick to step in. “Different metals have different purposes. The question isn’t really which is best, but which would suit you the best. Although, what suits you best may be somewhat pricey.”

Dante shrugged and looked at Olivia. He didn’t have the money to pay for anything in the shop.

Olivia had a pleased smile on her face. “You can buy whatever you want, Melisandre gave me more than enough. You could even buy several if you wanted.” A light seemed to shine in Ezra’s eyes when he heard Olivia’s words, but then was quickly gone. They were likely going to be ripped off.

Olivia didn’t seem to notice, she just continued to smile happily. He had the distinct impression that she enjoyed buying things for him that he couldn’t afford.

Still, it wasn’t as though he was the one that was paying. Whether or not they got a good deal wasn’t really his problem. “What would you recommend?”

Ezra stepped forward and pulled a sword from its viewing stand, it was likely the most expensive one available. “This sword just arrived from Warlord Auron’s twice specialized Blacksmith. It is definitely unique.”

Unique meant expensive. Ezra handed the sword to him, and he examined it. It was somewhat strange looking. The blade seemed to be made of standard steel, but there were tiny violet colored crystals scattered throughout. The handle was standard, and the hilt itself was an ornate violet color that matched the color of the small shards in the steel, yet was less decorative than most of the other hilts of weapons on display. Thankfully, there were no jewels anywhere on the weapon. The violet color looked a bit strange and over the top, but not overly so. Overall, he liked it.

“The sword is created with shards of chaos stone.”

Hearing Ezra’s words, he dropped the sword on impulse. It was snatched by the man just before it touched the ground, and he had the impression that Ezra had gotten his desired reaction. “I assure you, good sir, that this weapon is completely safe.”

Dante accepted the sword again, and Olivia looked at it curiously. “Why would anyone want a sword made with chaos stones?”

Hearing Olivia’s question, Ezra gave a pleased smile. “What an excellent question. This sword has a few different functions. For instance, stopping a world essence manipulated blade, and blocking the enchantments on an opponent’s weapon. It also cuts through mana shields like they are butter, and you would be hard-pressed to find a skill that it can’t cut cleanly through.”

Dante’s eyes were wide as he looked at the sword. If even half of Ezra’s pitch was true, it was far more useful than he would have imagined. “Wouldn’t the crystals in the sword create vulnerabilities in the blade?”

“Ah, an apt question. Fortunately, no. The Blacksmith that created the weapon specializes in fusing materials, and it went through the full process of strengthening with an artificer. The blade’s structure will be able to take any damage you manage to inflict upon it.”

“We’ll take it!” Olivia snagged the sword from his hand before he could even react. She seemed to be sold. He had a few more questions about the sword, but he wasn’t the one paying.

He watched Olivia as she slowly stroked each tiny crystal that was lodged in the blade. “Did you buy it for me, or should I keep shopping?”

Olivia broke out of her trance to look up at him. “I fight with daggers.” She gave him a mischievous smile. “Maybe you could teach me how to handle a sword.”

Dante stared at Olivia expressionlessly, but his left eye twitched once. She was back.

For the first time, Ezra seemed unsure of his place in the conversation. But after he didn’t respond to Olivia for several seconds, Ezra cut in. “The sword is exceedingly useful, but there are a few downsides. Namely, the lack of ability to be enchanted.”

That caught his attention. “You have enchanted swords?”

Ezra stood a bit straighter. “I would be more than happy to enchant any weapon that you purchase for a small fee.”

‘Small fee’ was likely a relative term. “You are an Enchanter? What types of enchantments can you do?”

Ezra smiled proudly. “Not only am I an Enchanter, but I am an Enchanter that has specialized in weapon enchantments. I can do almost any tier 3 enchantments.”

That was surprisingly impressive. The tier of an enchantment was based on the amount of world essence required to power the enchantment. Tier 2 enchantments were the standard, it was the threshold before essence crystals were required to power the enchantment. Not only would tier 3 enchantments be far more powerful, but the materials and skill required to make them were far greater than the tier 2. “Wouldn’t a tier 3 enchantment require essence crystals to power?”

Ezra nodded. “Of course, but there are several methods to circumvent that issue.” He gestured to a blade that had a light blue tint. “Ethel steel can hold two enchantments before the integrity of the weapon is compromised. I could easily add a second enchantment that draws in and stores world essence to help power the first.” He gestured to another sword that was pitch black. “Mazus steel will passively draw in world essence when any enchantment on it is powered.”

“And what type of enchantments can you add…”

Ezra seemed to be too lost in his explanation to see his expression. “Like I said, all kinds. Heat, cold, gravity, poison, world essence gathering, paralyzing, sharpness, fortification, and even attacking enchantments.”

He could barely hear Ezra’s words. He was too busy calculating the amount of world essence required to specialize his Blademancer Classification again… and mentally bashing himself in the head. He should have upgraded his Create Blade ability. It was becoming rather obvious that the short week he spent in the enchantment class in the academy wasn’t long enough to learn everything he needed to know.

To his side, Olivia snapped her fingers. “Oh! That reminds me.” She pulled a piece of paper out of her cleavage. “Master wrote down a few suggestions for you earlier this morning.”

Dante took the paper from Olivia and read it, then handed it to Ezra. “I’ll take these.” Ezra read it, and his face lit up with a rather large grin.

“Of course, I’ll have everything ready to pick up in a few hours.”